Proposals for Enhancement of Unix on the Vax

This report outlines proposals for enhancing the UNIX system on the VAX to better serve users in the ARPA research community. The proposed enhancements cover several key areas:

• Inter-process Communication (IPC) and Networking: The report details a new IPC framework designed to facilitate communication within a single machine and across networks. This includes proposals for sockets, datagrams, virtual circuits, and portals, aiming to create a robust foundation for distributed systems and applications.

• Memory Management: To leverage the VAX's large address space, the proposals introduce segment-based memory management. This aims to support extremely large address spaces (up to 2 Gigabytes) with efficient performance, especially for applications like image processing and LISP systems, and also to promote portability to machines with varying memory architectures.

• File System Performance Enhancements: The report suggests significant changes to the file system organization to improve throughput. This includes reorganizing file system space into cylinder groups, optimizing data layout for locality of reference, and increasing the block size to reduce seek latency and enable larger data transfers.

• New File System Facilities: Several new file system features are proposed to address shortcomings in the current system. These include symbolic links for cross-file system and inter-machine linkage, naming directories for project organization and screen-oriented command interpreters, and locking primitives for maintaining data consistency.

• Software Projects and Distribution Support: The proposals aim to simplify software interchange and management. This includes defining project hierarchies, establishing Makefile standards, revamping the UNIX group facility, and implementing source revision control, notification/update facilities, and unique identifiers for files to facilitate site-independent programs and easier distribution.

• Standards: The document addresses areas where standardization is needed to improve system consistency and user experience. This includes standardizing manual formats, library contents, mail protocols, signal handling, terminal driver interfaces, debugging information formats, and screen environment support.

• Operational Support: Enhancements are proposed for system operation, including improved file system backup and retrieval procedures, more robust error logging, and the introduction of an "operator" role with specific maintenance privileges.

• Miscellaneous Topics: The report also touches upon various other subjects, such as hardware support, debuggers, Fortran 77 compiler optimizations, detaching jobs, and comparisons between UNIX and VMS performance.

The document concludes with an index and summary of the proposed system facilities.